200 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



on the point of seizing a rabbit as it escapes in a burrow (p. 70) 

 must have been suggested by a plate in Wolfs * Wild Animals,' 

 wherein an Eagle Owl is depicted in a somewhat similar attitude. 

 But the suggestion of a habit which is true of the Eagle Owl is 

 not so in the case of the Short-eared species, which usually preys 

 upon much smaller quarry. The Sparrowhawk on p. 73 displays 

 a superfluity of tail-feathers, making the tail look too broad and 

 at the same time too short in proportion to the wings. In the 

 figures of the Marsh Harrier (p. 79), the Osprey (p. 85), and the 

 Peregrine (p. 87) the wings are incorrectly drawn, being neither 

 of the right shape, nor held in the right position. No Falcon 

 ever holds its wings as depicted on the last-mentioned page, nor 

 as shown in the case of the Hobby (p. 89). 



But for these defects we are compensated in other chapters by 

 some good figures of the human subject. A pleasing example of 

 this is to be found in the plate entitled " Chantrey's famous shot." 

 In this the artist has depicted a gentleman of the old school, with 

 the tall hat of the period and long fowling-piece to match, firing 

 through a wood at two Woodcocks crossing, both of which, as 

 history relates, were killed at the one shot, and subsequently 

 immortalised by being carved in white marble by the hand that 

 slew them. Mr. Crawfurd has, of course, referred to some of the 

 witty epigrams on the subject which were composed by eminent 

 scholars of the day (1829), though he might have found some 

 better than those selected in Muirhead's * Winged Words on 

 Chantrey's Woodcocks ' (1857). 



Strange to say, amongst all the field-sports dealt with, there is 

 no account of Grouse-shooting; and although the habits of the 

 Red-deer are described, as well as the mode of hunting it in 

 Devon and Somerset, no chapter has been provided for the 

 votaries of " Deer-stalking." In any subsequent edition this 

 should be remedied, and yet another chapter added on " punt- 

 gunning," by which we do not of course mean shooting wildfowl 

 from a square-ended fishing-punt on a Norfolk broad (as depicted 

 in the illustration facing p. 284), but the much more difficult art 

 of approaching Wigeon, Wild Geese, and Swans in an estuary or 

 tidal harbour by propelling a very differently shaped gunning- 

 punt, decked fore and aft, while lying at full length amidships. 

 This is a phase of sport which has many enthusiastic votaries, 

 and should be adequately represented. 



